Key Largo Coral Reef National Marine Sanctuary Deep Water Resource Survey

Jameson, Stephen C.

National Ocean Survey. Office of Coastal Zone Management.

National Ocean Survey. Office of Coastal Zone Management.

1981

The Key Largo Coral Reef Marine Sanctuary (Sanctuary) extends from the State's territorial sea off Key Largo, Florida, seaward to the 91 meter (300 foot) isobath. It is approximately 32.2 kilometers (20 miles) long, and 8.05 kilometers (5 miles) wide. About half of the Sanctuary lies in 30.4-91.4 meters (100-300 feet) of water. Little was known about the extent of natural and cultural resources in these deeper waters of the Sanctuary as exploration of such an extensive area at these depths without a submersible is somewhat hazardous and very time consuming because of short "bottom time" for SCUBA divers. This survey was organized to fill some of the significant gaps in baseline data on the Sanctuary deep water resources thereby providing Sanctuary managers with scientitic information to make intelligent management decisions. It was designed as a two phased approach. Phase I was an extensive side scan sonar and bathymetric survey. Phase II was a qualitative submersible reconnaisance and resource inventory. A discussion of Phase I operations is included in the Biological Zonation section. Following the Biological Zonation section are descriptions of the major deep water communities.

Coral reef ecology

Coral reefs and islands

Ecological surveys

Marine animals

Marine parks and reserves

Marine plants

Key Largo (Fla.)

NOS (National Ocean Service)

OCM (Office for Coastal Management)

ONMS (Office of National Marine Sanctuaries)

CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System)

PDF

Technical Report

NOAA technical report CZ/SP ; 1

The Key Largo Coral Reef Marine Sanctuary (Sanctuary) extends from the State's territorial sea off Key Largo, Florida, seaward to the 91 meter (300 foot) isobath. It is approximately 32.2 kilometers (20 miles) long, and 8.05 kilometers (5 miles) wide. About half of the Sanctuary lies in 30.4-91.4 meters (100-300 feet) of water. Little was known about the extent of natural and cultural resources in these deeper waters of the Sanctuary as exploration of such an extensive area at these depths without a submersible is somewhat hazardous and very time consuming because of short "bottom time" for SCUBA divers. This survey was organized to fill some of the significant gaps in baseline data on the Sanctuary deep water resources thereby providing Sanctuary managers with scientitic information to make intelligent management decisions. It was designed as a two phased approach. Phase I was an extensive side scan sonar and bathymetric survey. Phase II was a qualitative submersible reconnaisance and resource inventory. A discussion of Phase I operations is included in the Biological Zonation section. Following the Biological Zonation section are descriptions of the major deep water communities.

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/50001